How branding my business changed my life for the better

Ever since branding my business back in March, my freelance adventure has started gradually evolving and changing for the better. I always say this to all my clients. But there’s nothing I believe it’s more powerful than a high quality focused brand.

Nothing you should invest into before giving your brand an actual identity.

I know, I know! I’m a brand and web designer, I’m definitely biased. But before you run away from this post because of that, let me talk as a small business owner only. Let’s imagine I’m not even a brand designer, and you’re just chatting with your average business owner who has nothing to do with design. Let me show you the actual numbers, how branding my business has changed it all.

Not only I don’t have to lookout for clients anymore, as they find me spontaneously. Not only I’m booked up for 6 months in advance. But I also went from a number of 1 dream client I’ve worked with for the all time since the very start of this business, to working with 3 dream clients at the same time in the same month and being able to book 5 more for the months to come, ever since rebranding.

And for dream client I mean my actual client of dreams. The one I founded my business to actually work with. I bet you’re interested now! Just keep reading...

Rebrand with your dream client in mind

Branding is not just about making your business beautiful. It’s a tool to communicate a feeling, a way to talk about an attitude, explain what’s behind your business. Branding is the first impression your clients will have of you. It’s the ideas you’re passing on about how you work.

Branding is basically the number one tool to attract the right sort of clients and let them come your way. Maybe you have never thought of branding and graphic design like that. But if you think about it, it totally makes sense.

Just think about your own approach to any brands you might encounter on your everyday basis. The same way a lovely café in your hometown take care of the food you’re going to eat, the same way you leave impressed by the kindness of the owner, the same way you enjoy the atmosphere recreated by the colours and the furniture in the bar, this is how that brand is making a good impression on you. It’s exactly how that brand it’s meeting your aesthetic preferences and your tastes in general. The way that brand is convincing you to come back, because you enjoyed your time there. It’s the way that café attracted you way before this all happened. When passing by its window and deciding to enter.

When branding my business, I had a very specific client in mind. My dream project as a brand and web designer would have been taking care of the creation of a new brand from scratch, covering every little details. From logo, patterns, illustrated elements, to the design of the entire website or online shop, to every of the small or big details that branding can cover. Like branded stationery, the sign on the front door of a new restaurant, the design of product packages my client would wrap her flower composition with...

How do you know the projects you’re thinking of are the ones you should keep in mind when branding your business? You simply do! You get chills only at the thought of being THAT lucky to do something like that for a living.

When I knew what my dream project was, it was easy to delineate a dream client profile. In my case it was either a small business owner or a creative wanting to start or renew their brand online or offline, needing help to create an actual identity for his business.

When I was branding my business, I had that dream client in my mind all the time. Every single piece in my final brand board was thought to talk to that dream client without the need of words. Every element on my website and in my photography has always been meant to attract that dream client and no one else.

Of course you won’t always work with your dream client only, and things always need their time to happen... But it will happen, at some point. You’ll start booking in one, then two, than more and more dream projects, or selling your best products to the right people.

There’s no magic formula for running a successful business, but branding is surely the one thing that will put you on the right way.

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Branding is not just design but an attitude

Stop thinking about branding simply as what your logo and website look like. Branding is not just design at all. Branding is the way you decide to approach your clients, the attitude you have, the feelings you want to pass on to whoever is passing by and noticing you.

Branding doesn’t stop once the design is done and ready. You’ll have to impersonate your brand and who you decided it to be every single day. You’ll have to keep believing in what you do, maintain the exact same attitude and professionalism every working day passing by.

Coherency is what branding actually means. Find a way to be coherent to the eyes of your dream client, in your attitude, in the colours you pick, in the way you speak, in the creativity you put into your work, and of course in the way you present yourself as a brand to the world. A brand design will have to support all of that, but it’s not all.

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How I stopped looking out for clients

Want to hear about the best thing that happened to me since branding my business? Well, I finally stopped looking out for clients! It probably sounds crazy. If you own a business I bet you’ve at least once searched for potential clients to work with.

I used to do it all the time.

I spent half of time searching for people who was after the services I was offering, proposing to them directly. It worked: a lot of people discovered my services thanks to that. Yes. But it was time consuming, ah if it was! I was spending half of the time I could have spent actually earning my money, trying to find people who might want to give me those money.

Since branding my business back in March my approach to clients has changed so drastically and suddenly. After only a few months I don’t even have to do all of that anymore. I can simply sit there and do the work I love doing, and wait for more clients to spontaneously get in touch. And this does happen for REAL. I’m booked up for 6 months in advance, and when I look at my schedule I can’t see one single client I specifically hunted down myself as I used to do.

It means all of those dream projects I’ll be working at for the months to come, they all came spontaneously my way with no pressure on my end or whatsoever. And all of this thanks to branding! Thanks to the way I decided to present my business. The way I did it with my dream client in mind. And the way I’m maintaining my brand’s attitude coherent ever since.

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Before & after branding my business

I bet you want to see the actual numbers now. Well, let me show you how my work calendar changed in only a couple of months. And that’s exactly what all the months to come from now for 6 more months look like at the moment!

See? Bet you can spot the differences! I feel very lucky each time I look at it, but in reality I worked my butt off to achieve these results. I trusted branding more than everything and kept considering it as an attitude every single day. Branding is your way to communicate your business values, make sure you’re using it right!

This is also why I always suggest a rebrand when a business is not going too well. Probably your priorities have changed with time and your branding is not matching them anymore. Rebranding usually sorts it all out, and many of my clients can confirm so!

Find your right designer and give your brand a face today, you’ll bless this choice many times in the future. I promise!

Make sure the designer you pick completely understands you vision and it's ready to make it into reality. If you need help, I'd love to have a chat. Just pop by my portfolio, have a stroll and contact me if I'm your ideal designer. Can't wait already..!